Northwest in trouble...

[catawampuscat]

Just read that Northwest Airlines may have air steward strike looming and it could endanger the survival of Northwest..
I have a return ticket on NWA and of course, I am concerned.. I have been wanting to switch carriers for a long time but
one gets caught up with elite priviledges and mileage programs..
Maybe TravelerJim or another poster has some thoughts on NW continuing to fly to BKK..

Also wondering what happens if one has a ticket on an international carrier and it goes under.. Are you just out of luck or
are there provisions in place for such an occurance.. :idea:

Also wondering what happens if one has a ticket on an international carrier and it goes under.. Are you just out of luck or
are there provisions in place for such an occurance.. :idea:

Providing the carrier is a bonded member of IATA you will either be given a ticket on an alternative carrier or a refund.

You should also be covered under your travel insurance policy.

Nortwest has been in financial difficulty for some time now, but I would take comments from management that they will go under if workers strike as a bit of posturing.

That said, the prudent thing might be to rebook or at least be prepared to rebook on another carrier.


CHOICES: Some agents advise travelers to book on other airlines to avoid strikes

BY JULIE FORSTER
Pioneer Press

Last week, Northwest Airlines said it might be forced to liquidate if its flight attendants were allowed to launch random strikes.

On Thursday, after a bankruptcy judge refused to intervene, its chief executive said in a release, "Our customers can continue to book Northwest with confidence."

Welcome to another unnerving episode of "To Book or Not to Book?"

Travel agents in the Twin Cities on Thursday waited nervously for any tidbits to help them guide passengers in answering that question during the busiest travel time of the summer.

"Truly, we don't know what to expect," said Wendy Weigel, vice president of travel services for AAA Minneapolis. "It's a tough situation."

Last year at this time, as a strike deadline for its mechanics union neared, Eagan-based Northwest stayed on message: We're prepared to operate normally. It had invested millions to train replacements and had contracted with outside companies to help pick up the slack when more than 4,000 mechanics walked.



www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/15300359.htm (http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/15300359.htm)

[wowpow]

A friend in the US, booked on Nortwest in a couple of weeks, writes

i just called the elite line. yes there has been and is a potential strike of attendants. however, the mechanics have been on strike for over 1 year. they have back up plans.

my opinion is that nwa wants the strike to break the union. the judge in the bankruptcy allowed changes to the contract, but the employees refused it.

other airlines in case of a strike will normally honor the tickets...

Looking at history, some airlines DO go away completely, for good, end of story.
And airlines that are already bankrupt are good candidates.
NW going under would be less of a big deal than American or United.
(Former NW elite member fo many years.)

The strategy of the NW flight attendant union is called "C.H.A.O.S." = Create Havoc Around Our System. They threaten to implement strategic, limited work stoppages so that the company has no idea when, where, or how long the strikes will be.

It might be that they call a work stoppage at Seattle at 0900 and while the company scrambles to replace the struck flights' crews, at 1100 they call off the strike. Or, it might be a call at 1300 to strike all 757 flights out of MSP. Keeping in mind that there is a minimum number of flight attendants required on each airplane type by the FAA (based on number of seats), they might even have just 1 or 2 of the crew strike after leaving their layover hotel -- if there is no crew base in that city, it can be difficult to replace them and that airplane goes out of service especially since (I read in the paper -- take that for what it's worth) the pilots have agreed to honor the flight attendant strikes, so the airplane will not even be ferried sans flight attendants/passengers.

The union membership is not aware they will be asked to strike until they are specifically notified. The strikes may happen one day, and not again for a week or more, or they might be consecutive days. The threat is very unnerving to airline management.

The only time that C.H.A.O.S. has been implemented -- it has been "threatened" a few times at United -- was at Alaska Airlines. Alaska fired the striking F/A's (there weren't many) but they all were reinstated with back pay. Under the Railway Labor Act (which governs airlines also), under certain circumstances strikes are absolutely legal: e.g. a unilateral change to a contract is one such circumstance.

I explain the tactic because there was a parallel being drawn between the flight attendants and the mechanics who have been on strike and have been replaced. Successful implementation of C.H.A.O.S. could indeed damage the company enough to cause some serious damage, including liquidation.

More than you wanted to know about CHAOS, huh? ;-)

[travelerjim]

A short note...

As I prepare to go to the airport for a weekend flight to visit my Sister in San Diego ...on Northwest ...of course :-)

I have confidence in NW ability to maintain their flight schedules...and am prepared for CHAOS if it happens in cities where the flight attendants may seek to interupt the flight schedules...

The flight attendants are balking at the new contract...
But the reality is that they will need to sign on to the new term of their employment - as other employee groups have in recent months.

These are not easy times for any airline...even most majors are in financial trouble..if they admit to it.

Change must happen to keep the flights in the air...at a profit to the operating airlines.

Quite frankly, with the attitudes I have commonly found on the international flights of Northwest - as sadly expressed by a majority of their senior flight attendants...I wish NW management good luck and much success in implementing the changes - not only in pay - but in seniority issues !

You will soon see more and more international based non-American flight attendants on US airlines....because, in my opinion - as I have flown other internatioonal airlines from time to time - they do give better service and are most appreciative of the job as a Flight Attendant.

United Airlines just created and hired many Thai - Bangkok based - flight crews as they make changes in the assignments of crew to staff their international flights.

Northwest will soon do the same - employ international - overseas based flight attendants for their international flights...as that really is one of the major issues the senior flight attendants are really fighting against the change...but change will happen!

More later...I must go now to catch my flight...on Northwest :-)

Hope you all have a good weekend...

TravelerJim
www.tjinsurance.com (http://www.tjinsurance.com) .

Northwest will soon do the same - employ international - overseas based flight attendants for their international flights...as that really is one of the major issues the senior flight attendants are really fighting against the change...but change will happen!One of NW's previous contract proposals included terms to replace most (all?) of their international flight crews with overseas-based flight attendants. The most recent contract proposals from the company did NOT contain that term, and a judge has ruled that the company can only impose the most recent tentative agreement (i.e. the one that was voted down). So, for the forseeable future it seems like the "senior" US-based flight attendants will be on their overseas flights to/from the USA. (They already have foreign-national flight attendant bases in Asia which crew the intra-Asia flights. Only the pursers on those flights are from the USA.)

For American flight attendant wannabes, the job is no longer nearly as desirable as it once was. At United, for example, under the umbrella of bankruptcy protection between pay and benefit cuts, increased working hours (you thought they were surly before, okay, make them work 20% more hours and cut their vacation time), and termination of pension plan (you thought they were old before, just wait: retirement is a less viable option now), it is estimated that the flight attendants lost in excess of 30% of their "price tag" to United ... while the CEO kept his $4 million pension plan and top management got huge bonuses (via KERP = Key Employee Retention Program). Sign of the times, I guess?

OTOH, Cathay Pacific is opening bases guess where? USA and Canada. Go figure!

What American airways besides Southwest is ever not folding? I think these slow deaths are bad for the quality and competitiveness of airlines there. Get rid of the unions, tighten up the bankruptcy laws, and start implementing proper service at last.
Dame Thatcher.

Cedric, these slow airline deaths are just the airline industry's version of what is happening in corporate America in general. Especially under Bush, there is a total imbalance of upper management raiding the corporate coffers vs compensating and treating employees with respect. Google and Southwest Airlines are shining examples of the opposite, but in general, big business in America is out to shaft the peon workers for all they can. Get rid of the extreme corporate greed, treat the employees as valuable resources instead of merely an employee number with a price tag, and unions might not be necessary. Just my (unsolicited <g>) opinion.

For an idea of how things are faring for the American worker, go to the PBGC web site, page http://www.pbgc.gov/workers-retirees/fi ... ge676.html (http://www.pbgc.gov/workers-retirees/find-your-pension-plan/content/page676.html) , and put an * (asterisk) in the search field and click on "search", to get ten pages of companies who have jettisoned worker pensions.

Recently Congress amended pension laws to let bankrupt airlines** redistribute their pension payment obligations over a longer period of time, to keep Delta & Northwest from turning their pensions over to the PBGC. Speculation was that if Delta defaulted on their pension and handed it to the PBGC, that PGBC would go bankrupt. (IIRC, Delta is $12 billion in arrears in pension funding.) If Bush chose to not bail out the PBGC (and let's face it, he appears to be more pro-corporate greed than pro-worker, and would probably rather spend the nation's money on wars overseas than guarantee workers' pensions), all the retirees who were receiving payouts via the PBGC would receive no more payments. Sad state of affairs for the American worker, huh?

** American and Continental, two major carriers not in bankruptcy at the moment, have cried foul that bankrupt carriers can benefit from the pension funding changes. They (rightly, IMHO) feel penalized, and at a competitive disadvantage, for staying solvent.

[thrillbill]

What BKK Qwm said in the first paragraph about coroporate American reminded me of a discussion on Fox News (of course) where a couple politicians (Republicans of course) were arguing against having minimum wage in the United States... they felt that job wages would "adjust" to what is really appropriate to ones work. A family today can't even survive on minimum wage (which is at its lowest compared to the cost of living since the 1950's). And there are "educated" people in America that hold positions in Washington that are against minimum wage.... ?????